They Try to Chase Me
by HopeCoppice
Summary: Every non-Dracula vampire on earth seems to have hit on Vlad - apart from one. Future!fic, brief allusion to sexual assault. Slash.


**I own nothing but the plot. Enjoy!**

Vlad threw yet another black rose into one of the large vases he kept in his study.  
"When will they stop sending these?" Bertrand hesitated for a moment, unsure as to whether the Grand High Vampire was actually expecting a reply.  
"I wouldn't count on it. You're rather... desirable to most of the vampire community."  
"Because of my power?"  
"Yes." Vlad looked hurt, and he found himself continuing. "I didn't mean to suggest you don't have other charms, but these people don't know you. It's reasonable to assume that they're interested in your rank and, yes, your power."

The Chosen One sighed heavily, setting the contents of the vase on fire; he detested black roses. He couldn't remember, now, if he'd hated them before taking up his role as leader of the vampire world, but he certainly did now. He was inundated with the things. They weren't the worst of his problems, however.

There were the assorted councillors' other halves, constantly fluttering eyelashes in his direction, and even some of the councillors themselves had been less than subtle in their attempts to court power. It should be flattering, Vlad thought, but really it was just a little creepy and very tiring.

Then there had been that deeply unsettling incident two years ago when one of them had decided that Vlad must be attracted to strong, _forceful_ personalities, and Bertrand had had to speed right across the city to intervene in the nick of time. The culprit had been put to death – according to official records, the Council had voted on the sentence and it had been carried out by an anonymous executioner, as was lawful and proper. In reality, Bertrand hadn't even hesitated. Word had somehow got out that the Grand High Vampire's detachment of bodyguards would strike hard and fast should such an incident occur again. As yet, it never had.

Vlad shuddered, staring straight through the papers he was supposed to be signing as he remembered the state he'd been in after that attack. It hadn't taken him as long to recover as he'd expected – no physical damage had been done, and the shaking had stopped after a week's rest and copious amounts of soy blood – and he had been well enough to work for a few days before he'd admitted as much to the Council, or his valet, who had attended on him with even more devotion than usual in the immediate aftermath.

The Grand High Vampire eschewed physical contact wherever possible, because nobody was to be trusted in such close proximity to him, but Vlad had spent a week curled up in a ball, nestled against Bertrand like the child he felt he'd been when the two first met. It was the only time his former tutor had ever let him get so close, and Vlad had often wondered, in the intervening years, what _Bertrand's_ reason was for keeping people at arm's length.

He threw away a few more love letters and a thinly-veiled threat, but found himself distracted from a portrait of a buxom young vampiress in extremely unsuitable clothing, a phone number scrawled across a strategic part of the image. Instead of throwing it away, he simply sat staring into space. Specifically, he was staring into the space currently occupied by Bertrand.

"Vlad?" Bertrand had tried to call the Grand High Vampire 'sire' for a week after he'd officially taken up his post. Vlad had forbidden it. "Is everything alright?" The young ruler frowned.  
"I think I must have been hit on by every vampire in existence by now. The ones that aren't related to me, I mean."  
"Not quite. The Guard-"  
"- are more subtle than most, but I've noticed the way they look and you can't tell me you haven't, too. I've _seen_ you notice." Bertrand didn't argue with that, frowning as if disappointed in himself for Vlad's ability to detect his displeasure. "All these vampires seem to want to try and chase me. Except one."

His tutor stiffened; he didn't like the way this was heading.  
"Why have _you_ never tried it, Bertrand?" Sometimes he hated being right. He drew himself up to his full height and met Vlad's gaze as evenly as he could.  
"There's no point in making you verbalise your dissent; we both know I have nothing you want."  
"Do I have something you want?"  
"Of course." Bertrand was frowning again, as if it was obvious and somehow vitally important.

"My power." It _was_ obvious, Vlad realised; hadn't they just been talking about it?  
"No." His valet's response was firm. "_You_. But I am privileged to serve you as closely as I do; I ask no more."  
"And if _I_ asked more?" There was a time when Vlad would have addressed his question to Bertrand's feet, but that boy was all grown up now and he kept eye contact, never looking away.  
"I would never deny you anything, Vlad."  
"Because I'm your boss?"  
"Because I l-" Bertrand cut himself off, looking irritated, but Vlad wasn't having any of it.  
"You what, Bertrand?"  
"I love you." The admission was quiet, but heartfelt, and then his most trusted companion bowed his head, waiting for the inevitable sting of rejection and dismissal. Vlad blinked twice, then stood, moving away from his desk to stand in front of the one vampire who'd never let him down when it counted the most.

"Look at me." Bertrand's eyes slowly travelled up to Vlad's face. "Tell me that every day, if you feel it. You're the _only_ vampire I want chasing me, Bertrand. And I don't plan on running."  
His valet only stared at him in stunned confusion and the Grand High Vampire realised that he was going to have to make a move himself. Very slowly, in case the older vampire chose to move away, he reached up to place a brief kiss on Bertrand's lips.

When the other man's arms wrapped around him, pulling him into his first hug in two years, Vlad knew this was where he wanted to be from now on.


End file.
